


Required Reading

by Dionynic



Category: Monster of the Week (Tabletop RPG)
Genre: Between Sessions, Canon Compliant, Monster of the Week, Original Character(s), no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:00:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22415911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dionynic/pseuds/Dionynic
Summary: Elliot makes a few decisions about who he wants to be. There are certainly decisions made.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	Required Reading

Frankly, Elliot was getting a little sick of this.

To be clear, it wasn't the monster hunts that he tired of, nor the time he spent around the team. No, odd things always happened and it was just something he had to accept. And he had, quite a while back actually. He'd been able to work his way through learning more about Caradoc and he slid by most sorts of social situations. Elliot considered himself to be one of the more charming members of their team. He knew what to say to people, knew what they wanted. This was fine when things were simpler. When they were able to talk their way through situations before. 

It wasn't as though Elliot had felt _completely_ useless lately, because he really hadn't. He'd managed to do a few good things lately and he knew that it was dumb to pretend otherwise. His contributions weren't zero and that was important to acknowledge. Still, what did he bring to the team? Even Sonya had gotten in on the action more than he could. Though, to be fair, it had taken her a while to learn how to do something like that. And it wasn't without consequence, she was in the fray so much more often than he was. She got injured quickly though the team had some fine healers who made that a non-issue. His most impressive feats were teleportation and trapping. Nothing combat related at all. Just running and prolonging the inevitable.

Elliot felt the chill run up his spine as he remembered each time he'd gotten so deeply in trouble that he'd hardly been able to raise a hand in his own defense. The pirate men could probably hold their own, as well as Caradoc, and Sonya would certainly last longer than he would. He simply relied on dumb luck. 

Pushing down the shame that welled up inside him, Elliot grabbed the books that he'd bought, as well as the one he had stolen, from Sonya's bookstore. He held them all in his hands as he plopped down on the couch. Quickly, before Tarot could hop onto his lap, he opened one of the books and began to flip through it. There were different techniques and methods outlined in a small black font with swirling titles at the top of each page. He settled in, humming quietly to himself as he began to read. At some point, Tarot settled himself on to Elliot's shoulders, providing him a little bit more comfort as he sat there.

It stayed like that for hours, for hours on end Elliot studied, pouring himself over each page. Eventually, he got up, suppressing a laugh at Tarot's disgruntled mew.

"Sorry buddy." Elliot apologized, moving over to the pantry and tossing a couple treats out to Tarot before slipping on a coat and sliding the grimoire into an inner pocket. He made sure that the apartment was all locked up before he headed off to the public park. It was dark outside, maybe a quarter to midnight? He wasn't too entirely sure about it but that didn't matter too much.

He moved to the middle of a concrete court and glanced up at the sky. It was still lightly snowing and he made a quick mental note to check his car for ice later. He'd certainly be scraping a bit of it off, wouldn't he? Taking in his surroundings, Elliot forced himself to keep his air of calm, deep breaths in and out, body lax, no sense of tension anywhere. It was dumb really, to be doing something like this in the middle of the night, where he could easily be attacked, but it was fine. He refused to let himself run away from this. He was determined to stop running from battles that he could face. And he was about to increase that number.

With all the tension out of his body, he pulled out the book and propped it open. One hand held the book while his other hand was stretched out in a 'stop' motion. _This is dumb, you're being dumb,_ nagged a voice in his head that sounded awfully familiar. But he pushed it down and continued. Okay... something simple... Perhaps a simple ward that he could drop in a moments notice? It was something he could do just to be sure that he could.

With that in mind, he turned in a circle, sweeping his hand around himself and calling out, "Vampira…. No no!"

Nothing happened.

Red slowly crept up in his cheeks and he coughed a bit, taking a bit to relax before he tried once more. His body and hand both moved slower as he whispered "Bar the fanged from entrance."

It was brief, but there was a light glow around him, maybe 5 feet in diameter that suddenly shimmered to life and then disappeared. He could still feel the wards, they wouldn't hold well but they were definitely something. He nodded to himself and took a few tries before successfully dropping the wards once more. Elliot continued his practice deep in the night, casting spell after spell, focusing deeply on the intention of each one.

When he finally sat down on a bench and took a break, he pulled out his phone and glanced at the time, 2:55 AM. Yeah, that was about what he had expected. Briefly, Elliot wondered what Georgie was up to, and considered inviting him over but then he quickly decided against it. It was late and he wasn't sure if he'd be intruding on his business. Besides, Georgie was safer in Hell. 

Still.. he missed him. And so, he unlocked his phone and sent the man a quick message, one that he wasn't going to check the response to until after he had a good night's rest.  
  
" _I don't know how much it matters. But I'm working on something, and I'm gonna make sure I'm strong enough to protect the both of us, or at least I'm gonna try."_

He could already hear Georgie's voice in his ear, telling him to be careful, that this was dangerous territory he could be stepping into. But he pushed it down. Maybe this was about his own insecurities, maybe it was about protecting his own pride, that was fine with him. He was okay with seeming selfish. That wasn't his only reasoning though. His friends did so much to protext him and to help him. It was about time that he learned how to do the same when the tables were turned. Not to mention, he didn't want Georgie to have to live in fear, he wanted him back. Of course, it was partially his own desire that drove that last one. But again, that was fine.

 _I'm a selfish, prideful man and I never knew when to quit,_ Elliot thought silently as he picked up the book once more, _and I still don't._


End file.
